What Are the Differences Between Delta SkyMiles and MQMs?

Jarrod WestUpdated: August 9, 2023, 4:39pm CDT

What Are the Differences Between Delta SkyMiles and MQMs?

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After your Delta flight, you’ve likely noticed that your account has been credited with both Delta SkyMiles and Medallion Qualifying Miles — also known as MQMs.

If you’ve recently started your points and miles journey, you might be wondering what the difference is between the two. In short, Delta SkyMiles is the rewards currency you earn and spend to book award flights on Delta and its partners, while MQMs help you earn elite status with Delta but cannot be redeemed for flights.

Here’s a full breakdown of the two, along with some tips on how you can earn more.

What Are Delta SkyMiles?

When you hear someone refer to Delta miles, they most likely are talking about the SkyMiles frequent flyer program’s currency that allows you to book award tickets.

The primary way to earn SkyMiles is by flying with Delta or its partner airlines, where you’ll earn anywhere from 5x miles to 11x miles per $1 spent on your flight — though these rates can vary on partner airlines.

Once you’ve earned Delta SkyMiles, you can redeem them for award tickets. One of our favorite ways to redeem Delta SkyMiles is during the airline’s flash sales where you can score award tickets at a steep discount on what is usually charged.

How To Earn Delta SkyMiles

Image Credit: American Express

The easiest way to earn extra SkyMiles on your flights — and on everyday purchases — is by paying with a co-branded Delta card. Here’s a look at how they can help you earn more miles per $1 spent:

	Delta SkyMiles^® Gold American Express Card	Delta SkyMiles^® Platinum American Express Card	Delta SkyMiles^® Reserve American Express Card
Annual Fee	$0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $99 (rates and fees)	$250 (rates and fees)	$550 (rates and fees)
Delta Purchases	2x	3x	3x
Dining	2x	2x	1x
U.S. Grocery Stores	2x	2x	1x
Hotels	1x	3x	1x
All Other Purchases	1x	1x	1x

Deciding which card is best for you will largely come down to what you spend the most on, what annual fee you are comfortable paying, and what other benefits you’re looking for in the card.

For example, the Delta Platinum card is better suited for everyday point earning, but the Delta Reserve card also offers benefits like airport lounge access, complimentary upgrades, and more.

Hot Tip: Aside from using a Delta credit card, there are tons of other great ways to earn Delta SkyMiles, like the SkyMiles Shopping portal, the SkyMiles Dining program, and more.

What Are Delta MQMs?

While you’ll also earn MQMs on your Delta flights, they’re the complete opposite of SkyMiles. MQMs cannot be used to book flights, and the only purpose they serve is to help you qualify for Delta elite status. The key to differentiating them is in the name — Medallion Qualifying Miles.

Unlike SkyMiles, which are revenue based, you’ll usually earn 1 MQM per mile flown, but premium cabin tickets earn MQMs at a higher rate. This means if you book a Main Cabin flight on Delta from New York City to Miami, a flight distance of 1,089 miles, you should earn 1,089 MQMs — no matter what the cash cost of the ticket is.

How To Earn Delta Elite Status

Since MQMs are purely for helping you achieve Delta elite status, here’s how many MQMs you will need to qualify for each level of Delta elite status:

	Silver Medallion	Gold Medallion	Platinum Medallion	Diamond Medallion
MQMs or MQSs Needed	25,000 MQMs or 30 MQSs	50,000 MQMs or 60 MQSs	75,000 MQMs or 100 MQSs	125,000 MQMs or 140 MQSs
MQDs Needed	$3,000 or MQD Waiver	$8,000 or MQD Waiver	$12,000 or MQD Waiver	$20,000 or MQD Waiver

Remember that Medallion Qualifying Miles (MQMs) are earned based on your distance flown, while you earn 1 Medallion Qualifying Segment (MQSs) for each individual flight taken, regardless of its distance. Given that, most flyers will find it much easier to qualify based on MQMs than MQSs unless you take a large number of short-haul flights throughout the year.

Keep in mind that at each status tier, you will also need to meet the Medallion Qualifying Dollar (MQDs) benchmark, or earn an MQD waiver via qualifying spend on your Delta credit card.

Hot Tip: For more details on Delta Medallion elite status and the benefits it offers, read through our complete guide to Delta elite status.

How To Earn More MQMs

Image Credit: American Express

Fortunately, just as you can use Delta credit cards to earn extra SkyMiles, you can also use them to earn extra MQMs thanks to the Status Boost feature on select cards.

Those with the Delta Platinum card or Delta SkyMiles^® Platinum Business American Express Card can earn 10,000 Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs) after spending $25,000 in purchases on your card in a calendar year, up to 2 times per year.

While those with the Delta Reserve card or Delta SkyMiles^® Reserve Business American Express Card can earn 15,000 Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs) after spending $30,000 on purchases on your card in a calendar year, up to 4 times per year. That means you could earn up to 60,000 MQMs each year from one of these cards, in addition to all of the SkyMiles you’d earn for the spend as well.

Final Thoughts

For most travelers, Delta SkyMiles are what you’ll be most concerned with, as you’ll use them for redeeming award tickets on Delta and its partners. MQMs, on the other hand, are only useful to you if you are working to qualify for Delta elite status.

For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles^® Gold American Express Card, click here.
For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles^® Platinum American Express Card, click here.
For rates and fees of Delta SkyMiles^® Reserve American Express Card, click here.
For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles^® Platinum Business American Express Card, click here.
For rates and fees for the Delta SkyMiles^® Reserve Business American Express Card, click here.

Featured Image Credit: Delta Air Lines

Frequently Asked Questions

No, Delta SkyMiles is the rewards currency that you can redeem for award tickets. MQMs do not have any redemption value and are only earned to qualify for Delta elite status.

MQMs, or Medallion Qualifying Miles, are elite qualifying miles that you earn based on your fare class and distance flown on your Delta (and Delta partner) flights.

Once you’ve earned a certain threshold of MQMs (along with other qualifying activity) within a calendar year, you’ll qualify for the next level of Delta elite status.

Yes, both the personal and business version of the Delta Platinum card and Delta Reserve card offer a Status Boost feature that allows you to earn MQMs for meeting annual spending thresholds within a calendar year.

If you book a Delta award ticket you earn 1 MQM per mile flown on Main Cabin and Comfort+ tickets, and 1.5 MQMs per mile flown on Delta One, First, and Premium Select tickets.

If the award flight you are booking does not fall within one of these fare codes then you will not earn any MQMs for the flight.

However, if you book your ticket using Delta Pay With Miles, you will earn MQMs at the designated fare rate, no matter which fare code you book (with the exception of Basic Economy) as these bookings are treated as cash tickets.

This may seem confusing, but the tradeoff is that when you redeem through Pay With Miles your SkyMiles are worth a fixed 1 cent per mile toward the flight, while a standard award ticket may offer significantly more value than that.

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About Jarrod West

Boasting a portfolio of over 20 cards, Jarrod has been an expert in the points and miles space for over 6 years. He earns and redeems over 1 million points per year and his work has been featured in outlets like The New York Times.

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